UPDATED (9 p.m., 03/28): Lincolnton Police said murder victim Tara Lynn Osburn, 39, was killed by a gunshot from a handgun on Thursday.

According to a press release, witnesses said they saw a gray pickup truck parked behind the victim’s home earlier that day. Police identified the victim’s husband, Anthony Ray Osburn, 40, as a suspect.

During the standoff, residents of 11 apartments in the building where Anthony Osburn took refuge were evacuated. Officers began negotiations with Anthony Osburn, during which he admitted to shooting his wife. After more than two hours of talks, Anthony Osburn said he would negotiate no further and told officers “give me five minutes and you can come in and get my dead body,” according to the release.

The release said SWAT officers later shot tear gas into the residence and exchanged gunfire with the suspect when he shot at officers from a window. Anthony Osburn exited the apartment just after 12:30 a.m. Friday and engaged in a firefight with officers, during which he was killed.

JENNA-LEY HARRISON

Staff Writer

Police said a man accused of shooting at officers and killing a Lincolnton woman Thursday evening before opening fire on SWAT officers and being killed several hours later, was the victim’s estranged husband.

Police have identified the victim as Tara Osburn and the suspect as her husband, Tony Osburn.

Following several hours of hiding inside his Lantern Ridge apartment, where police said the man fled after allegedly killing his wife at her Lincolnton home earlier that evening, he exited the dwelling when the Lincoln County SWAT team used chemical munitions to force him out.

Armed with a handgun, the man shot at officers, prompting the tactical team’s quick reaction and an exchange of gunfire, ending in the suspect’s death around 12:30 a.m. Friday, police said.

Hours earlier, around 6 p.m. Thursday, the woman was found dead, in a pool of blood, near a side door at her residence, located at 867 Salem Church Road, police said.

A delivery man with Aaron’s, Inc., told the Times-News he found the body while dropping off a new washer and dryer for the residence, which had recently been rented.

Detectives proceeded to the Lantern Ridge apartments after learning about the body, hoping to speak with the victim’s husband.

After spotting his truck circling the complex, the officers requested a marked patrol vehicle, police said, to assist the scene.

The man soon parked, and an officer asked him to show his hands.

Rather than obey the command, the driver pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and fired at the officer, the Lincolnton Police Department said.

The officer responded by also firing his weapon, police said, before a witness told them the man fled into an apartment at the Lantern Ridge complex.

The officer, nor the suspect, were reportedly injured in the shooting.

The State Bureau of Investigation is currently investigating both the shooting and the woman’s death, which the Lincolnton Police Department has officially deemed a homicide and the first murder case for the city agency this year.